97.5 Flips to Sports on Monday

[imhomerjay]

While an obvoius benefit on the 'cost' side of the ledger, being in the same city it provides nothing on the 'benefit' side. You'll get all of the P&S crowd with them on 93.3, so blocking your chance to offer another alternative and capture a bigger piece of the pie doesn't make sense.

 

[Bill_W]

While an obvoius benefit on the 'cost' side of the ledger, being in the same city it provides nothing on the 'benefit' side. You'll get all of the P&S crowd with them on 93.3, so blocking your chance to offer another alternative and capture a bigger piece of the pie doesn't make sense.

How about Barsky? 97.5 is one of the few FM stations in the city that he hasn't been on yet, considering it used to be a Trenton station. He's talking sports mid-days down in Dallas for CBS right now. I'm sure GM would welcome him back to their family with open arms. The Barsky Show on 97.5 and Mike & Mike on 950.

 

[aindik]

I don't think GM is bringing in a "guy talker" to compete directly against Preston & Steve. If they do a local morning show, it'll either be P&S or it'll be a straight sports show.

 

[aindik]

I was listening to the web stream yesterday at 5:30 and I thought I heard them say during a SportsCenter update that the Phillies game (via ESPN Radio) would be on 97.5 and the Desean Jackson show would be on 950. I wasn't near a radio, so I couldn't check. (On the web stream, neither was on. We heard a replay of the Phillies world series post-parade ceremony). Is this what they did? Is this the first and only time since Friday that the two stations haven't been simulcast?

 

[radiogodzilla]

If 97.5 wanted to really compete and have ANY chance of toppling the very stale Angelo Cataldi show, they'd throw a ton of money at Tony Bruno and bring him back in am drive where he belongs. He's wasting away on a night time national show and while it's cleared at nights in Philly on 950 and 97.5 and is 10x better than the WIP's brutal hosts at night, his talent would be better suited in am drive.
Didn't he kick start WIP when it was Angelo and Brookshire back in the early 90's? If I remember, he brought that show radio elements and the kind of zany stuff that put them on the map from the early days when WIP was a non factor. Angelo is a millionaire and I'm sure wouldn't be happy to have Bruno - a real Philadelphia guy - back on to compete against him. All of these shock guy fm's guys don't know sports or Philly as well as Bruno. I'm sure Greater Media is too cheap to do it, but Bruno would be the only threat to 97.5.

 

[imhomerjay]

Wondering why Angelo's financial status is relevant, regardless of one's opinion of his show. (And for that matter, isn't it likely Tony also has a pretty nice bank account...or should have one if nothing else?)

 

[Wil]

Wow, more talk about Preston & Steve "going to 97.5" than the actual format change and demise of WNUW. As stated by several other posters, P & S are not going to 97.5. They are established on MMR, they are the number 1 morning show in the Philadelphia Market, and they are not a sports program, at all. It makes no sense to simulcast them on 97.5 either because 97.5 is now a sports station. I repeat, Preston & Steve are not doing a sports program. 97.5, if they were to do a local morning show, would be better served doing a sports oriented morning show, which would fit their new format.

 

[HGN2001]

Wow, more talk about Preston & Steve "going to 97.5" than the actual format change and demise of WNUW.

Yep. It seems that whenever there's a format shift in this town, the wild ideas always surface. I'm particularly amused with the off-the-wall scenarios of blowing up stations, shifting frequencies and hosts, and trading with other owners, as if that happens at all in the real world. Invariably the discussions degrade into three topics regarding vaunted, yet failed radio stations:

(1). The late, lamented, Eagle 106
(2). The late, lamented, Y100 (and WDRE by extension).
(3). The late, lamented Sunny 104.5 and its Christmas programming.

As Wil has stated, the idea of moving Preston & Steve around to other frequencies is just not grounded in any kind reality at all. The only valid speculation here is whether or not a GM competitor like CBS will attempt to do something similar with its 'IP format - and that's just a wait-and-see, depending on ratings success for the new 97.5 sports station.

Any ideas about new call letters, or will they stick with the unwieldy WNUW?

 

[aindik]

Wow, more talk about Preston & Steve "going to 97.5" than the actual format change and demise of WNUW. As stated by several other posters, P & S are not going to 97.5. They are established on MMR, they are the number 1 morning show in the Philadelphia Market, and they are not a sports program, at all. It makes no sense to simulcast them on 97.5 either because 97.5 is now a sports station. I repeat, Preston & Steve are not doing a sports program. 97.5, if they were to do a local morning show, would be better served doing a sports oriented morning show, which would fit their new format.

I first brought up the idea of P&S to 97.5. I was not suggesting that they do a sports show. I was suggesting that they do the exact same show they do now, on a different station owned by the same company that owns the station they're on now. I think that company makes more money with them on the new station and Jaxxon on MMR, than they do with them on MMR and Mike & Mike on the new station.

Sure it's a gamble to move a successful morning show to a new station, but I really don't think they'd lose many listeners. People would find them, and MMR has no reason not to tell people, on the air, where P&S are every once in a while. They could simulcast the show on two stations for a week during the transition.

As to your point that their show doesn't fit a sports format, I agree but I say it doesn't fit a rock format, either. It's essentially a hot talk show. It won't be a perfect fit for any format other than that. Since that format doesn't exist, whether it fits one format or another is going to be a question of degree.

Another idea for a local morning show on the new station is John DeBella. Older demo than P&S, might fit better with the sports audience, and can credibly talk sports a bit (again, not suggesting he do a sports show). Again, music on MGK to replace him.

 

[evolve991]

I don't think PnS are moving either but if they did I'd follow them as long as I could get 97.5 down here. I listened to them on Y100 since day 1 with Preston,Marilyn and Steve ( we wondered what happened to Barsky) and they are the ONLY talk show I listen to. I'd say they are a Talk/Rock format because they do play music like the old morning shows on Y100 and HFS did. They even manage to make the Sports segment interesting to me which is hard since I'm not a sports nut. By the way- The Phillies are STILL the WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!! LOL

 

[imhomerjay]

Definitely a gamble and one not worth taking. Mike & Mike may be the permanent solution, or if the FM begins to take on a more distinct identity, they may not. The better gamble, if the plan is to replace M&M on that side, is to find its own show, not mess with your most successful station.

 

[ccuphl]

I first brought up the idea of P&S to 97.5. I was not suggesting that they do a sports show. I was suggesting that they do the exact same show they do now, on a different station owned by the same company that owns the station they're on now.

Moving P&S from WMMR to 97.5 is the equivalent of moving Jim Gardner from channel 6 to digital channel 6.2 -- huge gamble, no reward, a huge amount of marketing money, and you're screwing with success and stability (something that's rather rare in radio).

What makes you think P&S's audience wants to hear in-depth sports talk at 10AM following 4 hours of comedy and entertainment? What if you move them to 97.5 and 80% of their audience bails everyday at 10AM?

 

[aindik]

Moving P&S from WMMR to 97.5 is the equivalent of moving Jim Gardner from channel 6 to digital channel 6.2 -- huge gamble, no reward, a huge amount of marketing money, and you're screwing with success and stability (something that's rather rare in radio).

I disagree. I think moving them to 950 would fit that analogy well. I would never suggest moving them to an AM station or an HD-2 station. Moving them to 97.5 would be like if ABC bought channel 17.

But the analogy still don't fit because TV stations don't have formats like radio stations do. P&S don't fit the format of WMMR or WNUW. The question is, which one do they fit better.

What makes you think P&S's audience wants to hear in-depth sports talk at 10AM following 4 hours of comedy and entertainment? What if you move them to 97.5 and 80% of their audience bails everyday at 10AM?

Nothing makes me think that. Some of them will stick around and some of them won't, just like any popular morning show. What makes you think they want to stick around and hear 10 rock records an hour?

They're not a perfect fit on either station. But non-sports shows in drive time have worked on sports stations. Imus in the early years of WFAN is one example. KHTK in Sacramento carried Don & Mike with number 1 ratings noon-4 for more than 10 years.

If Greater Media is only willing to pay for 2 full staff local morning shows in Philadelphia, I think one of them should be on the station that airs talk shows the rest of the day, even if those shows are about sports and the morning show isn't.

 

[ixnay]

Hey----------I know there is a WFAN AM in NYC. Is there a WFAN FM? If not, GRAB EM!!

Ain't gonna happen. CBS (WFAN) is not about to permit a competitor,
i.e., Greater Media (WNUW), to share the calls.

Don't know if this has been asked on this thread, but can CBS legally prevent GM from grabbing "WFAN-FM", outside of a court case?

ixnay

 

[aindik]

I think the current users of a set of call letters on one band have the right to control their use on other bands. (We wouldn't want a system where Greater Media could call their new station at 97.5 "WIP-FM.")

Process-wise, I think the FCC would just deny the call letter change request if there's nothing indicating the consent of the licensee of WFAN (AM), but I'm not an FCC procedure expert.